Penn Central wrote:Can't imagine derailing IN the tunnel. The benchwalls would prevent the engine from going anywhere but the cars might have jacknifed up into the wire. LIRR is reporting that service will not be back to normal until Wednesday, so it must be pretty bad. The location could not be worse. I would not want to be the crew and have to walk back to NYP to evacuate.
There are a few rough spots in the tunnels, and while im not sure exactly where in the tunnel (line 3) the derail was, but i have a few ideas.....
you right, the benchwalls will prevent the train from going real far, and thats what they are designed to do, prevent a derailing train from possibly puncturing the tunnel itself. However, at the same time, there is such little room in there to work, to rerail the cars and especially the loco is a HUGE challenge. Ive had to go on the ground in the north river tunnels (inbetween the benchwall and the train) and there is barely room for one person down there. Trying to get cribbing and blocks to attempt to rerail is im sure a nightmare. the one truck would be relatively easy, the second truck would be even more of a challenge. Throw in some debris from the damaged concrete benchwalls and lining and damage to the cars, and the challenge grows even more.
I was told that the cars and loco are wedged in there pretty good. I don't know if that means wedged vertically up against the ceiling and floor, or side to side (i would think side to side) but either way, this is quite a task that the wreckmasters are facing.
But there are positives, in that it was a relatively short train, it wasn't a revenue passenger train, but rather an equipment move from SSYD to NYP for an Empire train, and of course, there weren't major injuries, and the only folks on board were the crew and maybe some deadheading Amtrak and NJT employees from SSYD to NYP (I don't know if anyone else was on that train other than the crew, but its common for employees to ride any train leaving SSYD to hitch a ride back to NYP). Hopefully the damage to the tunnel isn't that bad, but at the same time, hopefully some more $$$$ will come for tunnel improvements. They are much better than they were in the past, but it still scary to think about what would happen if a revenue commuter or Amtrak train was the one that derailed with 10 or 12 cars and upwards of 2000 people on it.....
BTW, im ASSUMING that the loco was a P32, it would make sense, as it was an Empire train. I think we might be surprised with the exterior damage that the cars have. Of course, the ends will probably be slightly damaged from contacting each other (shouldn't be that bad because the train will be still relatively in-line, because it will be held in place by the benchwalls and won't accordian), but so will the lower carbody sides from striking/riding along the bench walls probably, especially if it took place on a curve